Dubai-based Fuse has raised USD 6.6 mn in seed funding to build out its cross-border payments infrastructure for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), TechCrunch reports. The round was led by European fintech venture capital firm Northzone, with participation from Flourish Ventures, Alter Global, and angel investors including Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga Agboola and ex-Morgan Stanley MENA president George Makhoul.

Where will the funds go? The capital will support Fuse’s team expansion and product development and push for additional regional licenses, as the company scales beyond its UAE anchor market into Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan. Its current clients include platforms like Airbnb, Etsy, Deel, and RemotePass, as well as remittance and crypto firms.

What does Fuse do? Founded in 2023 by George Davis (LinkedIn) and James Smith (LinkedIn), Fuse is the first platform in the region to offer virtual IBANs, with the feature being a standard in Europe but still rare in MENA. Its system allows international companies to move money in and out of regional markets without setting up a local entity or securing banking licenses. It offers USD-denominated virtual accounts for cross border transfers as well as AED-denominated ones for local transactions. Fuse currently processes hundreds of mns of USD per quarter and says revenue is growing by 50% m-o-m.

Fintechs have been seeing strong investor interest: The sector led startup funding in the UAE in 2024, pulling in USD 265 mn over the year. This momentum has continued into 2025, with March alone seeing Enza, NymCard, and Klaim raise a combined USD 65.8 mn, while Myne, Tabby, Mansa, Omnispay and Flow48 secured USD 242.5 mn in February — driven largely by Tabby’s USD 160 mn round. At the start of the year, January saw Pluto and Maalexi raise USD 7.1 mn.

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